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Shen Wenlang regained consciousness.
It was not a particularly impressive achievement.
First, he became aware of the fact that he possessed a body. Then he discovered that said body was heavy, unpleasantly numb, and apparently had more limbs than he remembered, because every time he tried to move one of them, something entirely different shifted beneath the blanket.
Then he discovered the ceiling.
The ceiling was white.
Very white.
Suspiciously white.
Wenlang stared at it for a long moment, trying to determine whether he had always known what a ceiling was or whether he had just made one of the greatest discoveries in modern science.
Then he discovered that he had a tongue.
His tongue was dry.
That was less fascinating.
He frowned and tried to swallow.
“Water.”
Someone moved to his right.
“You’re awake?”
Wenlang turned his head very slowly.
And then he discovered a beautiful creature.
That discovery was definitely the most fascinating one so far.
Sheng Shaoyou was sitting in the chair beside the bed, one leg crossed over the other and a phone in his hand. Apparently, he had been waiting for quite some time, because his jacket was draped over the back of another chair, his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone in a way Wenlang probably would have completely ignored under normal circumstances.
These, however, were not normal circumstances.
Wenlang was high.
He did not know that he was high, because reaching such a complicated conclusion would have required the part of his brain responsible for logical thought, and that part was apparently still peacefully asleep somewhere in the operating room.
All he knew was that he was looking at a beautiful creature.
Shaoyou looked back at him.
Wenlang narrowed his eyes.
Shaoyou frowned slightly in return.
“What?”
Wenlang continued staring for another few seconds.
“You’re so pretty.”
Silence fell.
Shaoyou slowly lowered his phone.
“What?”
“Pretty,” Wenlang repeated, because apparently the person he was talking to had hearing problems. He studied him even more carefully, his brows drawing together with something resembling genuine concern. “Very pretty.”
Sheng Shaoyou had known Shen Wenlang for years.
He had seen him drunk. He had seen him furious. He had seen him after several sleepless nights, surviving solely on coffee and stubbornness. He had seen him sick, injured, in love, jealous, and in the kind of emotional state where Gao Tu was the only person in the world capable of stopping him from committing a crime.
Never before, however, had he seen Shen Wenlang look at him as though the most beautiful Omega he had ever laid eyes on had just descended from the heavens before him.
Shaoyou was not sure whether he should be offended.
He was, however, absolutely certain that he needed to record this.
Without taking his eyes off Wenlang, he slid his thumb across his phone screen.
“Wenlang.”
“Mhm?”
“Do you know who I am?”
The question apparently required an enormous amount of intellectual effort.
Wenlang frowned.
He stared.
He thought.
Shaoyou could almost see individual neurons trying to find one another in the void anesthesia had left behind.
Finally, Wenlang’s face lit up.
“Beautiful.”
Shaoyou closed his eyes.
This was going to be the greatest recording he had ever owned.
“Yes. Fine. Of course. And my name?”
Wenlang thought again.
“I don’t know.”
“Fantastic.”
“But you can tell me.”
“Sheng Shaoyou.”
Wenlang repeated the name very slowly, as though trying to commit it to memory.
“Shaoyou.”
“Yes.”
“Pretty.”
“Thank you.”
“It suits you.”
Shaoyou bit the inside of his cheek.
Don’t laugh.
He was not allowed to laugh.
This man had just undergone surgery. He was a patient. He was under the influence of powerful medication. Shaoyou was a responsible adult and a good friend who had stayed here because Gao Tu had gone with Hua Yong to pick up Wenlang’s things and the medication he would need later at home.
He should not take advantage of the situation.
Which was why he merely adjusted his phone to get a slightly better angle.
Meanwhile, Wenlang was still staring at him.
“Do you have an Alpha partner?”
Shaoyou stopped smiling.
“Excuse me?”
“Alpha,” Wenlang repeated patiently. “Do you have one?”
“Wenlang.”
“Because if you don’t…”
He trailed off.
Shaoyou waited.
Wenlang looked as though he were preparing to deliver the most important speech of his life. He even tried to push himself up onto his elbows, but apparently his body had not been informed of this ambitious plan, because he managed to rise perhaps three centimeters off the pillow before collapsing back down.
It did not discourage him.
He reached out a hand.
Whether he was trying to touch Shaoyou or make some dramatic gesture remained unclear, because his hand went decidedly too far to the left.
“I can be your Alpha.”
Shaoyou looked at his hand.
Then at him.
“No.”
Wenlang looked wounded.
“Why?”
“For a great many reasons.”
“I’m a good Alpha.”
“I’m not entirely sure about that,” Shaoyou replied, thinking about all the occasions when Gao Tu—who, in a way Shaoyou still could not understand, had become friends with Hua Yong—showed up at their house unannounced without explaining anything. Shaoyou never needed an explanation to know Shen Wenlang’s behavior was somehow involved.
“I have money.”
Shaoyou snorted.
“So do I.”
Wenlang thought again.
“I have a house.”
“So do I.”
“A car.”
“I have several.”
Wenlang looked increasingly concerned. Apparently, he was just now discovering that his mating strategy had some serious flaws.
“I can buy you a car.”
“I don’t need a car.”
“A house?”
“Wenlang, I have a house.”
“Jewelry?”
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
Wenlang looked at him as though the answer were obvious.
“I’m courting you.”
Shaoyou covered his mouth with one hand.
His shoulders shook.
“Don’t laugh,” Wenlang said reproachfully. “I’m serious.”
That made it worse.
Shaoyou lowered his head, trying to regain control of his breathing.
“Of course.”
“You’re beautiful.”
“You already said that.”
“I want to make you my Omega.”
The laughter vanished.
Shaoyou very slowly raised his head.
“Who the fuck is an Omega?”
Wenlang blinked.
He looked at him.
His gaze traveled over Shaoyou’s face, his neck, broad shoulders, chest, and stopped somewhere around his waist.
He looked like a man performing extremely complicated calculations.
“You?”
“I’m an Alpha.”
“Oh.”
Wenlang accepted this information with astonishing calm.
For several seconds, the room was silent.
Shaoyou almost believed that this absurd conversation was finally over.
Almost.
“Then I’ll be your Omega.”
Shaoyou froze.
“What?”
Wenlang smiled at him.
It was the soft, slightly sleepy smile of a man who had just solved every problem in the world.
“I can be your Omega.”
“Wenlang, you’re an Alpha.”
“That’s okay.”
“Actually, that poses a bit of a problem for your plan.”
“I’ll try.”
Shaoyou stared at him in absolute disbelief.
“How the fuck are you planning to try?”
Wenlang shrugged. Only one shoulder, because apparently the other still refused to cooperate.
“For you, I can.”
Shaoyou looked at his phone.
It was recording.
Thank all the gods.
Gao Tu was going to play this recording at their wedding.
At every anniversary.
Possibly at Wenlang’s funeral as well.
The door opened at the exact moment Wenlang tried once again to reach toward Shaoyou.
“We’re back,” Gao Tu said, entering first with a small bag in his hand. “Sorry it took so long, the line was awful… The nurse said he should slowly start…”
He stopped.
Hua Yong, walking directly behind him, nearly crashed into his back.
“What…”
Gao Tu stared at the bed.
Wenlang was lying there with one arm outstretched.
Shaoyou was sitting beside him.
Their hands were perhaps ten centimeters apart.
“Wenlang?”
Shen Wenlang’s head immediately turned toward the voice.
His face lit up.
“Tu Tu.”
Gao Tu exhaled.
“You’re awake.”
He quickly approached the bed, set the bag down, and leaned over him, instinctively checking his face, his eyes, the temperature of his skin, as though merely looking at him could assure him that everything was all right.
Wenlang allowed it without protest.
“How do you feel? Does anything hurt? Are you nauseous? The nurse said you might be confused for a while.”
Shaoyou made a strange sound.
Gao Tu looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Sheng Shaoyou denied quickly.
Far too quickly.
But at the moment, using the last scraps of his sanity to stop himself from bursting into laughter, he was incapable of caring.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I’m not smiling.”
He was.
A lot.
Hua Yong studied him suspiciously, then looked at Wenlang, and finally at the phone in Shaoyou’s hand.
Understanding appeared on his face almost immediately.
“What did he do?”
“Nothing.”
“Shaoyou,” Hua Yong pressed in a soft voice, curious about whatever his beloved Alpha had just witnessed.
“Really…” Shaoyou swallowed the giggle threatening to escape and stubbornly insisted, “Nothing.”
Wenlang raised his hand.
“I proposed.”
Gao Tu went still.
Hua Yong went still.
Shaoyou closed his eyes.
“You did not propose to me.”
“Not yet.”
“Wenlang.”
“First I have to win you over.”
Gao Tu very slowly turned his head toward Shaoyou.
Shaoyou looked back at him.
For a moment, they stared into each other’s eyes.
“I can explain,” Shaoyou said quickly, immediately assuming a defensive posture.
He might have been an S-class Alpha, but really, when faced with Gao Tu, even Hua Yong had to be careful. The Omega could be terrifying.
“I wanted to make him my Omega,” Wenlang informed them.
Hua Yong made a strangled sound.
Shaoyou pointed a finger at him.
“Not one word.”
Hua Yong pressed his lips together.
His eyes sparkled.
Gao Tu looked as though his soul had just left his body and was observing the entire situation from a safe distance.
“He said I was pretty,” Sheng Shaoyou finally said with a shrug.
“You are,” Wenlang said.
Shaoyou turned toward him.
“You don’t get to talk.”
“Why are you being mean to me?”
Hua Yong turned toward the wall.
His shoulders began to shake.
“Hua Yong.”
“I’m not saying anything.”
“You’re laughing.”
“No.”
“I can see you.”
“I’m moved.”
“Turn around.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I want to preserve what remains of my memories of Wenlang as an intelligent human being.”
Shaoyou reached for a pillow.
Hua Yong immediately took a step backward.
Meanwhile, Gao Tu was still trying to understand the situation.
“Wenlang,” he finally said carefully. “Do you know who I am?”
Wenlang looked at him.
Something in his face immediately softened.
“Tu Tu.”
“Yes.”
“My Tu Tu.”
Gao Tu blushed.
Shaoyou rolled his eyes.
Of course.
Anesthesia might have erased half of this man’s brain functions, his memory, his sexual orientation, his ability to recognize secondary genders, and apparently every last shred of dignity he possessed, but Gao Tu remained untouched.
“And who is Shaoyou?” Gao Tu asked.
Wenlang looked at Shaoyou again.
He smiled.
“My future Omega.”
“He’s an Alpha,” Hua Yong reminded him.
Wenlang sighed heavily.
“I know.”
He looked like a man burdened by a great tragedy.
“So I’ll be his Omega.”
This time Hua Yong broke.
He laughed.
It was not even his usual quiet laugh. He doubled over, bracing one hand against the wall while Shaoyou stared at him with an increasingly powerful desire to commit murder.
“I’m sorry,” Hua Yong managed. “Really. I just… Shaoyou, you should give him a chance. Look how devoted he is. He’s willing to change his entire secondary gender for you. That’s true love.”
“Get out.”
“I can’t. I want to see the wedding.”
“Hua Yong.”
“I’ll be your best man.”
“Hua Yong. I thought you didn’t share what belongs to you?”
Gao Tu sat down on the edge of the bed.
He looked like a man trying very hard to remain serious, but the corners of his mouth had begun to twitch.
Shaoyou noticed immediately.
“You too?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Shaoyou raised both hands toward the ceiling, begging any higher power that might be listening for salvation—or perhaps simply for an end to his suffering. At this point, someone could put him in a psychiatric hospital and he would be perfectly happy, so long as he did not have to share a ward with these three idiots.
“Shaoyou.”
Wenlang reached for him again.
Shaoyou moved away.
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“You have your own partner sitting right beside you. Hold his hand as much as you want.”
Wenlang looked at Gao Tu.
Then at his own outstretched hand.
Then back at Shaoyou.
His brows furrowed.
“Tu Tu is my Omega.”
Finally.
Some fragment of his brain had returned.
Gao Tu smiled.
“Yes,” Gao Tu confirmed, a faint smile on his lips.
Wenlang looked at him with obvious relief.
“I knew that.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“I love you.”
Gao Tu immediately softened.
“I love you too.”
Wenlang caught his hand and pulled it against his chest.
For a moment, it seemed that the absurdity had finally come to an end. Wenlang closed his eyes, nuzzled his cheek into Gao Tu’s palm, and sighed contentedly.
Shaoyou relaxed his shoulders.
Hua Yong wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye.
Gao Tu gently stroked his thumb over Wenlang’s cheek.
“Sleep.”
“Mhm.”
“I’m here.”
“Mhm.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Wenlang nodded.
Several seconds passed.
“Tu Tu?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think Shaoyou would agree to be my second Omega?”
Gao Tu closed his eyes.
Shaoyou shot out of his chair.
“For fuck’s sake.”
Hua Yong nearly slid down the wall, laughing louder and more genuinely than he ever had in his entire life. Actual tears of amusement streamed down his cheeks.
“Second?!” he choked out between bursts of laughter. “Shen Wenlang, you woke up five minutes ago and you’re already trying to build a harem?”
“Not a harem.”
Wenlang looked offended.
“I love Tu Tu.”
“Oh, how romantic,” Shaoyou said.
“Shaoyou is just very pretty.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m a woman!”
“You’re a beautiful Alpha,” Wenlang corrected obediently.
Shaoyou opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Hua Yong started laughing again.
“You know what?” he finally said, wiping his eyes. “I’m going to get the nurse.”
“Why?” Gao Tu asked.
Hua Yong adopted a deathly serious expression.
“We need to ask if they accidentally removed his brain during surgery.”
“Hua Yong,” Gao Tu groaned.
“It’s a reasonable question.”
“I have a brain,” Wenlang protested.
Hua Yong looked at him.
“Prove it.”
Wenlang frowned.
Silence fell.
One second.
Two.
Three.
“Shaoyou is pretty.”
Hua Yong nodded.
“I’m getting the nurse.”
Shaoyou threw the pillow at him.
This time, it hit.
+++
An hour later, Shen Wenlang had fallen asleep again.
The nurse assured them that his behavior was completely normal, although her professionalism was severely tested when Hua Yong, with a perfectly serious expression, asked whether “irreversible loss of dignity” was a common side effect of anesthesia.
Gao Tu sat beside the bed.
Wenlang was still holding his hand.
Hua Yong sat on the couch beneath the window, leaning sideways against Shaoyou as he looked through something on his phone, while Shaoyou stared contentedly at his own screen.
Shaoyou was silent.
Suspiciously silent.
Hua Yong looked at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Shaoyou.”
“I said nothing.”
Hua Yong glanced at his phone.
Shaoyou immediately tilted the screen away.
Too late.
“You sent yourself the recording.”
“Of course I did. I need to make sure I have at least ten copies, just in case.”
Gao Tu raised his head.
“Recording?”
Shaoyou smiled.
Slowly.
With the satisfaction of a man who had just acquired a nuclear weapon.
“The recording. All of it.”
Gao Tu looked at the sleeping Wenlang.
Then at Shaoyou.
“Send it to me.”
“Tu Tu!”
All three of them jumped.
Wenlang’s eyes remained closed.
Gao Tu leaned over him.
“I’m here.”
Wenlang calmed almost immediately. His fingers tightened around Gao Tu’s hand, and the crease between his brows disappeared.
Gao Tu watched him for a moment.
The tenderness on his face was so natural that even Shaoyou could not make fun of it.
Only once Wenlang was breathing peacefully again did Gao Tu reach for his phone with his free hand.
“Send it.”
Shaoyou did so immediately.
Gao Tu’s phone vibrated.
Hua Yong leaned over Shaoyou’s shoulder.
“Me too.”
“Not you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re too dangerous.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“No.”
“I’ll take it.”
Shaoyou sighed, but a few seconds later Hua Yong’s phone vibrated as well.
Hua Yong grinned.
“I’m going to set ‘Shaoyou is pretty’ as my ringtone.”
“If you do that, I’ll divorce you.”
“We’re not married.”
“Then I’ll marry you just so I can divorce you.”
Hua Yong looked delighted.
“Was that a proposal?”
Shaoyou looked at him.
Gao Tu pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh.
Hua Yong innocently fluttered his eyelashes.
“Don’t worry. I can be your Omega.”
“I’m leaving.”
Shaoyou stood.
Hua Yong caught him by the wrist.
“Shaoyou.”
“No.”
“Shaoyou, you’re so pretty.”
“Let go of me.”
“I want to make you my Omega.”
“Hua Yong!”
Laughter filled the small hospital room.
Gao Tu finally started laughing too, lowering his head so he would not wake Wenlang, while Shaoyou tried to pull his wrist free from Hua Yong’s grip and simultaneously threatened him with divorce from a marriage they had not even entered yet.
In the middle of all that chaos, Shen Wenlang slept peacefully.
He held Gao Tu’s hand.
He smiled in his sleep.
And the next morning, he remembered absolutely nothing.
Which, unfortunately for him, did not matter in the slightest.
There was a recording.